This is the sequel to my Teagan/Surana romance, "Threshold". If you haven't read that yet, please start with it as this won't make much sense if you don't. I'd like to thank Xandurpein for his assistance with the male PoV and Cadsuane for her skills at beta reading my writing. I'd also like to thank Bioware for their wonderful characters. I own none of them, I just borrowed them for my tale.

Crossing Over

Chapter One

Neria awoke next to Teagan, who was sleeping peacefully beside her still, and looked over at him, trying to etch each feature in her mind—to hold a mental picture of him so she would have this moment to keep with her until she could return. Resting her head on her palm, she ran her fingers over his soft brown hair and along his jaw, moving over his lips. He twitched in his sleep and swiped sleepily at the disturbance. A small stab of guilt for waking him touched her as she had kept him up late last night, but that disappeared when she made him twitch again in his sleep by tracing his cheekbone. A mischievous smirk crossed her lips as she pulled her hand out of his reach and then returned to tickling his face. She traced his aristocratic profile and returned to his mouth again.

This time he snapped awake and grabbed her fingers with his teeth gently. Jumping at the sudden movement, she giggled as he held her palm to his lips and placed a kiss there.

"Good morning," she said. He grunted a sleepy, unintelligible response and rolled over to smile at her. "I have to go soon. Mhairi will be here shortly to travel with me to Amaranthine."

Reaching under the covers, he pulled her close to him. Sliding her hands behind his back, she snuggled closer, then smiled ruefully as she realized he was already dozing again. She turned her head, closed her eyes and laid her cheek on his chest listening to the beating of his heart and his even breathing. She just wanted to enjoy this moment of complete contentment.

The maid knocked on the door and called from the hall, not wanting to intrude on the bann and his lady. "Ser Mhairi is here, my lady."

With a sigh she looked at him again and kissed his closed lids tenderly, then his lips. When his arms came around her again to hold her to him, possessively, his hands tracing her curves, she realized he wasn't ready to let her go just yet.

"Tell her to go away. A few more hours won't matter," he protested.

She gasped. "You weren't sleeping! You were awake all this time!"

"Kind of, you little minx," he admitted. "I have plenty of time to sleep later if I want. I'm certainly awake now and you need to tell her to go away."

"I can't," she replied. "The sooner I'm gone, the sooner I can be back with you."

She bit her bottom lip, hoping he wouldn't hear the slip or maybe it wouldn't register. She had promised him the freedom to decide if they would continue their dalliance. It was assuming too much, she feared, to hope he would stave off Eamon's insistent demands he break things off with her.

Oh, Maker, I hope I can come back to you, she thought.

Reluctantly she stood up from the bed and he lay there, propped on his arm watching her dress. From the expression on his face she could tell he was as reluctant to see her go as she was to be going.

"I want you to take Eilir," he said. At the first sign of a protest, he held up a hand to stave it off. "I trust her. She's a good, reliable mount and she'll carry you there safely. I won't take no for an answer, Neria."

"All right," she agreed, though the only thing that had made her at all comfortable about riding was having him with her.

He got out of bed and now it was Neria's turn to watch him as he walked over to the pile of clothes he had dropped on his window seat last night. He took out a locket on a chain and brought it over to show her.

"I was hoping you would let me have a little something to remember you by. If you would do me the honor, I would like to keep a lock of your hair in this."

"Of course, Teagan. That's a lovely thought."

Pulling out a dagger, she took a snip from her hair, tied it with a small green ribbon and placed it in his palm. Almost reverently, he took it from her and placed it inside the locket.

"I wish I had something to remember you by, too," she said sadly.

"Well, I wasn't sure how you felt and I didn't want to presume," Teagan said embarrassed, "but I do have one for you, too."

He went back and brought another locket, just like the one he had put Neria's hair in. Opening it carefully, she saw inside the little gold oval was a lock of his own brown hair tied with a dark blue ribbon.

She bit her bottom lip and sniffled. "That's so sweet. Thank you, Teagan," she said. "When did you have time to do this? I wish I had something to give to you."

"After I talked to my brother yesterday, I was in the market and found them."

Fighting back tears, she took the locket from his hand. He hugged her, his hands stroking her back but she wasn't sure if it was to reassure her or himself.

"Be careful, Neria. Come home safely."

"I will."

She exited the room with a heavy heart then lifted her chin and walked down the hall. She was miserable, but she had her pride and wouldn't let anyone see what this was costing her.

Stopping in the kennels, she gave Muffin a couple of his favorite treats. She also had a huge ham bone to distract him as she rode off. She ruffled his fur and hugged him.

"Take care of Teagan," she said. "Do you understand boy?" The mabari looked up with liquid brown eyes filled with doggish devotion. His stumpy tail thumped happily. "I wonder how much you really understand."

In the courtyard, she found Eilir already saddled and waiting for her. Mhairi was on her horse and nodded to her. Neria looked up and saw Teagan watching her from his window. She wondered if he watched to see her go or was watching to see her get on the horse. With a final smile directed toward him, she climbed onto Eilir.

Mhairi was at least a welcome distraction from her worries and she was an engaging companion, a warm and friendly young woman. Neria took an instant liking to the young Warden recruit.

"So, Mhairi, we've a long ride ahead of us, tell me a bit about yourself," Neria said, guiding the horse toward the city gates.

"I grew up in the Bannorn, a day or two from here on a big farmhold where my family served the bann. I joined the king's service a year ago. I've wanted to be a Grey Warden since I could remember, and when I heard that they would be rebuilding the Order here, I put in my request to try for it." She blushed and ducked her head. "It's a great honor to be serving under the Hero of Ferelden."

Neria smiled, but she had never been comfortable with attention. First she was Irving's prodigy and then the Grey Warden who ended the Fifth Blight. Attention was bad, she felt. Attention just attracted the worst things to happen to you.

They rode northward all that day, Mhairi's chatter a constant buzz in her mind, and though Neria heard little of what the young woman said, her enthusiasm was unmistakable. The young Commander of the Grey's thoughts were turned inward on the road ahead, the tasks she would have to accomplish. She wondered about the Grey Wardens who had come to Amaranthine. The only things she knew about Orlesians weren't flattering, but she hoped the Wardens were more like Riordan than chevaliers.

She wondered if she would do a good job as Warden-Commander. Would the older Wardens even listen to her? It was one thing to gather an army, but she led by dint of "Alistair hadn't wanted to lead" not out of any real skill of her own. Now she would be expected to follow protocols she didn't know herself. What little she knew of Grey Wardens had come from one who had only been a Warden six months longer than herself.

"There should be a manual," she muttered.

"What was that, Commander?" Mhairi asked.

"Nothing, just thinking out loud," Neria responded. "Do you know anything about what's going on at Amaranthine?"

"Only what everyone else knows—the beasts aren't going to ground as usual."

"Do you think something could be leading them?"

"You mean something besides an archdemon? Maker help us if that's what's happening."

"Maker help us indeed," Neria whispered.

In all, defying the will of the First Warden and returning to Denerim to her warm bed and Teagan was looking more desirable the further she rode.